There's a merchant ship in the area that's diverted to have a closer look later today. Military planes/ships on their way to the area about 4hrs flying west of Perth. They can't confirm from a satellite image and I guess they want to be 100% certain either way before announcing anything.

Erm, I don't think the Aussies actually found it (yet). So far it's a blurry satellite image (owner unknown) and Aussie resources are being deployed to take a closer look because it happens to be in our search zone. But of course the media here is already claiming all the glory. Sheesh.

Two objects that may be wreckage from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have been spotted floating in the southern Indian Ocean off Australia.
The Australian government released pictures taken by satellite on March 16 of possible plane debris seen around 2,500km (1,500miles) southwest of Perth - one of the most remote areas of the planet.

One of the objects is estimated to be 78ft (24m) in size, the other 15ft (five metres), and the sighting of the objects was said by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to be 'credible and potentially important'.
Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said on Thursday that 'we have a new and credible lead' that 'gives us hope'.Scroll down for video

+17

Two pieces of wreckage that are possibly from the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 - one estimated to be 78ft in size - have been found to the west of Australia, it was announced today. Pictured: Satellite pictures released by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority of the object thought to be related to the search for MH370

+17

The debris was spotted on satellite imagery and a total of four aircraft have been sent to investigate the sighting, some 1553 miles off the coast of Perth +17

Map: Four aircraft have been sent to the area, pictured, where the objects were spotted

+17

Narrowed the search: Investigators have halved the scope of the search for missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 to an area roughly the size of Arizona, off the coast of Australia

U.S, Australian, New Zealand, Malaysian and UK search aircraft and naval vessels have been dispatched to the area, with significant radar pings reportedly being returned to one U.S surveillance plane from the objects' location.
One expert said it could take two days to find the objects and confirm what they are.
Michael Daniel, a retired United States Federal Aviation Administration official told The Straits Times: 'If they have a strong feeling or indication that the debris belongs to the aircraft, one of the first things authorities will do is drop sonar buoys in the water.
'If the black box is there, the buoys should be able to pick up the signals. This could take up to 48 hours but it all depends on how near or far the ships and other assets are.'
One surveillance aircraft has already completed a sweep of the search area and failed to find the objects. It was reportedly hampered by poor visibility.

The area is so far away - a distance from Perth equivalent to that from London to Moscow - that planes will only be able to spend a limited amount of time there before needing to return to base to refuel.

John Young of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said at an afternoon press conference that the aircraft already in the area would be joined by three others later on Thursday. A merchant ship dispatched in the search operation was also due to arrive around 6p.m. Canberra time, 10am UK time.

The imagery was progressively captured by satellites passing over the area and analysed by the Australian Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation.

Commercial satellites have been tasked with collecting higher resolution images of the floating objects.
Mr Young said visibility was poor in the area, hampering both air and satellite efforts and he estimated the water in the location where the debris was spotted to be several thousand feet deep.
'I must emphasize that these objects may be very difficult to locate,' he told reporters.+17

Search area: The objects spotted by satellite are in one of the most remote areas of the planet in waters thousands of feet deep

Recovery mission begins: John Young, pictured, of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said at an afternoon press conference that one aircraft is already on scene searching the area, and three others were on their way to help with the search

Mr Young reiterated that it was too early to tell whether the objects spotted on satellite were from MH370.
'The images captured by satellite may not be related to the aircraft,' he said. 'The objects are relatively indistinct. They may not be related to the search.'

It is not uncommon for cargo to fall off a container ship into the water, Mr Young said.

However, he said the fact the objects were in the designated search area and there were two of them of varying sizes 'really makes it worth looking at.'

The depth of the water where the possible debris has been sighted would likely make recovering the 'black box' voice and data recorders that may finally unlock the mystery of what happened aboard Flight MH370 extremely challenging.
Planes and ships will be searching a deep-water area around the size of the English Channel, with currents possibly having pushed the debris up to 600 miles from its last known location in any one of several directions.
University of Western Australia Professor of Oceanography Charitha Pattiaratchi said that, based on currents in the area, if the debris is from the plane, it probably would have gone into the water around 300-400 km (180-250 miles) to the west.

The search area covers an ocean ridge known as Naturalist Plateau, a large sea shelf about 3,500 metres (9,800 feet) deep, Pattiaratchi said. The plateau is about 250 km (150 miles) wide by 400 km (250 miles) long, and the area around it is close to 5,000 metres (16,400 feet) deep.

'Whichever way you go, it's deep,' he said.
These waters are twice as deep as those that Air France flight AF447 crashed in en route between Rio de Janiero in Brazil and Paris in June 2009. It took two years for its black box to be recovered.
David Gallo, who co-led the search for Air France Flight 447, has told CNN the largest item identified in the satellite image could be the missing plane's tail.
'It's a big piece of aircraft to have survived something like this,' he said.

The aircraft sent to the site include two Royal Australian Air Force Orion planes, a Royal New Zealand Orion and a U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon, the world's most advanced maritime surveillance plane.
In total, 25 aircraft and 18 ships will comb the area the objects were spotted in.

A New Zealand C130 Hercules has been tasked to drop data marker buoys, which provide information about water movement. That information will be useful if the search becomes protracted, Mr Young said.
If one of the planes spots the objects, it will report back an accurate GPS coordinate. The object would then be recovered and transported back to shore by the HMAS Success, which is, according to Mr Young, 'equipped to recover any object that might be found.'
The HMAS Success, an Australian supply and logistics ship, is currently en route to the area, though is not due to arrive for several days.

When asked if the objects were the size of 'a basketball or seat cushion,' Mr Young said one was 24 meters in size - or 78ft - and another was smaller.
He said there were a number of additional objects in the vicinity of the larger piece of wreckage but he added the current imagery was not clear enough to make out whether the pieces appeared to be from a plane.

+17

Aircraft: The above Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion aircraft from 10 Squadron is to join the Australian Maritime Safety Authority-led search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean today

+17

Debris spotted: Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott pictured today in Canberra, said two pieces of debris had been spotted on satellite imagery and aircraft were being sent to investigate

The AMSA will now concentrate its efforts on finding the two bits of wreckage, and would not continue searching the rest of the southern zone until they had been found or officials were convinced that they could not be found, he said.
'AMSA is doing its level best to find anyone who might have survived,' Mr Young added.
'If these objects are from the aircraft, that will put us in a more accurate search corridor to what we have at the moment.'
'This is a lead, it is probably the best lead we have right now.'

Malaysia confirmed in a statement that Mr Abbott called Prime Minister Najib Razak in Kuala Lumpur to inform him of the developments at around 10a.m local time.
The potentially huge breakthrough in the disappearance was announced after investigators halved the scope of the search for the passenger aircraft to an area roughly the size of Arizona late Wednesday.
Malaysia's Acting Transportation Secretary Hishammuddin Hussein said in a statement: 'At this stage, Australian officials have yet to establish whether these objects are indeed related to the search for MH370.'

There have already been several false alarms of what were said to be pieces of the aircraft being seen in waters on both sides of the Malaysian peninsula.
He did not say where the objects were. But due to the distance of the search area from the Australian coast it takes the Orion aircraft four hours to reach the search zone, leaving them only two hours to search before they have to turn back to refuel.
At the Canberra press conference, Air Commodore John McGarry from the Australian Defence Force said other nations had offered to help in the search for the objects but, due to their extremely remote location, very few aircraft could access it.

The search had been drastically narrowed Wednesday to two possible flight paths after hourly satellite pings detected from the aircraft provided far more information than expected as to where a wreck may be found.
Military planes from Australia, the U.S. and New Zealand began covering a search region over the southern Indian Ocean stretching 117,000 sq miles down from 232,000 sq miles.
Both of the routes were heading toward the South Pole and ended in the Indian Ocean, some 1429 miles from Perth, ABC News reported Wednesday. The calculations were at that point handed over to Australian officials and the county's search and rescue crews began combing the area.
Earlier Wednesday Malaysian officials confirmed they received 'some radar data' from other countries about the missing Flight MH370 - but claimed they were 'not at liberty' to release the information.
Speaking at a press conference Wednesday afternoon, acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Malaysia was continuing to co-ordinate the search for the missing Boeing 777-200ER.
He added: 'I can confirm that we have received some radar data, but we are not at liberty to release information from other countries.
'I appeal to all our partners to continue volunteering any and all information that could help with the investigation and the search for MH370.'
Meanwhile, distraught family members of the missing passengers were removed from the press conference.
Moments before officials spoke to the media, half a dozen furious relatives stormed the conference - blaming the Malaysian government of failing to work hard enough to find the plane.
The group had banners - most which which blamed the government of inaction - as airline officials desperately tried to resume order.
In dramatic scenes, one woman shouted: 'You are traitors to us... you have let us down. Tell us the truth! We want the truth!'

+17

Agony: Relatives of Chinese passengers aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines, MH370 gather at a hotel ballroom as they wait for a news briefing by the airlines' officials on Thursday

Hishammuddin Hussein (centre) told a news conference Malaysia had received 'some radar data' but were 'not at liberty' to release information from other countries

Hishammuddin Hussein said he 'fully understands' the frustration of the relatives of the missing passengers and said a high-level delegation was being sent to Beijing to speak to the families.

He later ordered an inquiry into the incident where security guards carried out the distraught mother of one of the passengers.
The families of the two pilots are also struggling to cope.
'It is very agonizing for the family, and the media is not helping at all,' said Mohammed Ghouse, a longtime friend of [pilot] Zaharie [Ahmad Shah]'s brother-in-law, according to The Washington Post.

'The daughter especially is very upset. She was very close to her father.'

+17

Thai military yesterday said they picked up an unidentified aircraft on radar bearing off the flight path, heading left over Malaysia and towards the Strait of Malacca

Sky News presenter Kay Burley was caught on camera tripping up an escalator during a media scrum to speak to the women.

It was reported that pilot Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah had programmed a remote island in the middle of the Indian Ocean with a runway long enough to land a Boeing 777 into his home flight simulator.

A U.S. official said the Malaysian government is seeking the FBI's help in analyzing any electronic files deleted last month from the pilot's simulator.

The official, speaking anonymously, said the FBI has been provided electronic data to analyze.

CNN also reported investigators at Quantico, a Marine Corps base and home to FBI labs, were examining 'hard drives belonging to two pilots':

Malaysia's defense minister said iinvestigators were trying to restore files deleted from the simulator last month to see if they shed any light on the disappearance.
Files containing records of simulations carried out on the program were deleted February 3.

At a news conference Wednesday, US Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters: 'I don't think we have any theories' about what happened to the plane'
However, he said the FBI has been in touch with Malaysian investigators about providing any help that it can.

'We are in ongoing conversations about how we can help and we will make available whatever resources that we have, whatever expertise we have, that might be able to be used,' Mr Holder said.

Suggestions the flight may have deliberately been changed were challenged by the acting transport minister today.

In words that appeared to rubbish a Reuters report suggesting MH370 used waypoints, or navigational points, after losing contact with ground control, he said: 'I am aware of speculation that additional waypoints were added to the aircraft’s flight routing. I can confirm that the aircraft flew on normal routing up until the waypoint IGARI. There is no additional waypoint on MH370’s documented flight plan, which depicts normal routing all the way to Beijing.'

Investigators at the conference also rubbished reports the plane may have been sighted over the Maldives.
Some residents of Kudahuvadhoo, one of the most remote parts of the area, said they saw a low-flying aircraft on the morning the flight's disappearance. Hishammuddin Hussein said these were false.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 with 239 people aboard disappeared March 8 on a night flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

It is now 13 days after it vanished from air traffic control screens off Malaysia's east coast at 1:21am local time.

Thousands of well-wishers have written on a prayer wall at Kuala Lumpur Airport, begging MH370 and its passengers to come home.
An unprecedented search for the plane is under way involving 26 nations in two vast search 'corridors'.

+17

A woman look at the thousands of messages left for those missing aboard the flight at Kuala Lumpur Airport

+17

The 'prayer wall' was started soon after the craft disappeared on March 8. No sign of the plane has been found

One of the corridors arches north overland from Laos towards the Caspian Sea, while the other curves south across the Indian Ocean from west of Indonesia's Sumatra island to west of Australia.

Another theory, predicted by a veteran pilot, suggests the flight was in trouble and simply heading for the nearest safe airport when it turned off-course.

Also reported Wednesday was the fact the U-turn made by the missing jet is believed to have been programmed into the on board computer before the last radio contact was made with the co-pilot.
A leading aviation expert on Tuesday suggested Asian military officials may be staging a mass cover-up because they do not want to expose gaping holes within their countries' air defenses.
The jet went missing shortly after 1am - but it wasn't until the following Tuesday that the Malaysian Air Force reported they had spotted the aircraft on radar over the Strait of Malacca at 2.15am.

Thailand's military said Tuesday they detected a plane at 1.28am, eight minutes after MH370's communications went down, heading towards the Strait but did not share the information because they were not asked for it.
Writing on his blog, aviation expert David Learmount said: 'Maybe these states' air defences, like Malaysia's, are not what they are cracked up to be.

'And maybe they wouldn’t want the rest of the world to know that.'
Mr Learmount, a former pilot and now operations and safety editor at the respected Flight Global publication, points out that MH370 might have flown over several Asian countries including Thailand, Burma, China, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan.
If it emerges that an unidentified aircraft had been able to fly over a territory undetected and unchallenged it would amount to an embarrassing security failure.
Regarding the Malaysian sighting Mr Learmount wrote: 'Clearly they had let an unidentified aircraft pass through Malaysian sovereign territory without bothering to identify it; not something they were happy to admit.
'The Malaysian government has called upon all the countries to the north-west as far as Turkmenistan and the Caspian Sea to check their primary radar records for unidentified contacts in their airspace in the seven hours after the 777 went missing.
'Depending on the actual track the aircraft followed, if it had headed approximately north-west this could include some–if not all–of the following countries: Thailand, Myanmar/Burma, China, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan.
'If the aircraft had gone that way, surely military primary radar in one of those countries–or several–would have picked up the signal from this unidentified aircraft, and the vigilant radar operator would have scrambled a fighter to intercept the intruder?
'Wouldn't s/he? Or maybe not. Maybe these states' air defences, like Malaysia's, are not what they are cracked up to be. And maybe they wouldn't want the rest of the world to know that.'

One CNN expert was saying this pictures are probably much more clear than they are showing and that no country wants to give away any trade secrets. I think the PM had better pictures than we see. Which explains why there was a lag time between the announcement and release of what we now see.

I didn't start out to collect diamonds, but somehow they just kept piling up.-Mae West

^ I'm kinda back to thinking suicide IF this is the plane. I have a feeling that they actually have found it now. I hope so, so that the relatives can at least have some closure and aren't forever wondering.

I just can't believe that there isn't a foolproof way to stay in constant contact with a plane. This should never have happened. I feel a great sadness for the passengers, crew and their loved ones. So fucking awful.

Good luck getting a cat to do anything let alone join in on your sexcapades. - Air Quotes